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Games

Gaming Must Promote and Protect the Safety of All

by Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox Posted on May 20, 2019May 20, 2019

Today, in an opinion article I published on the Official Microsoft Blog, I shared my views on gaming as one of our society’s great unifying forces. We are a 2.6 billion-person strong community of parents playing with our kids, adventurers exploring worlds together, teachers making math wondrous, grandmothers learning about their grandchildren through play, and soldiers connecting with their folks back home. Most gamers today are adults; nearly half are women. For many people around the world, gaming is the first entry point into technology. This widespread embrace of gaming and its global communities have turned video games into the world’s leading cultural industry, bigger than... Read more

Celebrating 10 Years of Minecraft

by Saxs Persson, Creative Director, Minecraft Posted on May 17, 2019May 17, 2019

This is an incredibly exciting time for Minecraft. Ten years ago today, the game launched on PC. Now, Minecraft has sold more than 176 million copies to-date in virtually every country in the world. As a way to celebrate 10 years for the franchise, we announced today a brand-new Minecraft game – Minecraft Earth. Minecraft Earth is an all new free-to-play augmented reality game for mobile that will bring the creative nature of Minecraft to the real world. The game’s mechanics are simple: explore your neighborhood to find blocks and unique mobs for your builds. Once you have them, any flat surface is an opportunity to build. Team up with friends to create amazing builds on Build... Read more: Celebrating 10 Years of Minecraft

This Week on Xbox: May 17, 2019

by Mike Nelson, Xbox Wire Editor Posted on May 17, 2019May 17, 2019

We know you’re busy and might miss out on all the exciting things we’re talking about on Xbox Wire every week. If you’ve got a few minutes, we can help remedy that. We’ve pared down the past week’s news into one easy-to-digest article for all things Xbox! Or, if you’d rather watch than read, you can feast your eyes on our weekly video show above. Be sure to come back every Friday to find out what’s happening This Week on Xbox! New Iron Throne Console Revealed for Xbox’s Game of Thrones Giveaway Last week, we announced a new Game of Thrones sweepstakes featuring custom House Targaryen and Night King designed consoles, and you didn’t think we’d just stop there, did... Read more: This Week on Xbox: May 17, 2019

Games

Join the Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour in July on Xbox One

by Des O’Connor, Producer, Fishing Sim World Posted on May 17, 2019May 17, 2019

The challenge of man versus beast, the thrill of the hunt, the adrenaline of competition, Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour lets you feel it all. Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour introduces a brand-new career mode where you can take part in carp, bass or predator tournaments (or all three) and progress through the ranks from amateur to elite angler. Not only will you need to overcome the challenge of finding and catching the fish, but you will also be up against over 100 professional anglers from across the world in your pursuit of glory. You will gain social media followers and career earnings as you progress which will trigger sponsorship opportunities from over 50 licensed partners featuring in... Read more

Games

How Rocket Arena Created its Blend of Explosive FPS Fun

by Matthew McCullough, Rocket Arena Production Manager Posted on May 17, 2019May 16, 2019

We’re happy to announce that Rocket Arena, our unique 3-on-3 first-person shooter, that invites you to choose a unique competitor and rep your region in a variety of modes, is coming to Xbox One later this year -- we can’t wait for you to play it. I remember the first time I played Rocket Arena about three years ago. I was one of six employees asked to playtest a game that Nexon had just signed on to publish for Final Strike Games. The game was very early in development, but the fun was immediate and infectious. By the time we were two rounds in, we were having a great time, yelling at each other to stop the other team from scoring, and taunting one another for getting blasted out of... Read more

Games

Hidden Horror: The Essence of Layers of Fear 2, Coming Soon to Xbox One

by Rafal Basaj, Brand Manager, Bloober Team Posted on May 17, 2019May 17, 2019

All stories need to have a beginning and for Bloober Team, it was the creation of Layers of Fear. It was not the first game we developed, nor was it made during the first years of our existence. It did, however, become the hallmark for our company. It was our leap of faith into a genre we always wanted to work with and after years of gathering experience we were finally able to pull it off. In 2015, we sat down and started work on reimagining the philosophy of what we do. We knew we wanted to work with horror, but we didn’t want to create another shooter or survival game. We wanted it to be more personal. Monsters can be frightening, as is a need to constantly run for your life, but... Read more

Games

Samurai Shodown Returns This Summer on Xbox One

by Jonathan Campana, Community Manager, SNK Corporation Posted on May 17, 2019May 16, 2019

Samurai Shodown is considered one of the major fighting games that helped shaped the genre with its nail-biting weapon play. The newest installment coming June 25 in the US and June 26 in Europe will take players back to the battlefield where they can sharpen their blades on the bones of their fallen enemies. Adding on top of the already robust cast of characters comes three more characters completely new to the series: Darli Dagger: A strong-willed shipwright always looking for the next adventure and another drink. Her weapon, the Libertalia, is actually the tool she uses to repair ships. It changes form depending on the task, whether it’s hammering in a nail or sawing her... Read more

Games

Super Saver Deals: Save up to 85% This Weekend Only

Games

Free Play Days: Build a Red Planet Colony This Weekend in Surviving Mars

by Nikhat Ali, Lead Producer, Surviving Mars Posted on May 17, 2019May 16, 2019

Greetings fellow Earthlings! I hope you’re just as excited as we are about building a new home on Mars now that Surviving Mars is free for Xbox Live Gold members this weekend. If you were waiting to try it out, you can start building your first colony on the Red Planet starting at 12:01 a.m. PDT on Thursday, May 16 through 11:59 p.m. PDT on Sunday, May 19. For the new recruits, Surviving Mars is a survival management game where players must build a colony capable of supporting human life on Mars. Easier said than done considering the Martian atmosphere is hostile to humans and kills anyone directly exposed to it. The mission begins the moment you land on the Red Planet. Using... Read more

Games

Next Week on Xbox: New Games for May 21 to 24

by Mike Nelson, Xbox Wire Editor Posted on May 17, 2019May 16, 2019

Welcome to Next Week on Xbox, where we cover all the new games coming soon to Xbox One! Every week the team at Xbox aims to deliver quality gaming content for you to enjoy on your favorite gaming console. To find out what’s coming soon to Xbox One, read on below and click on each of the game profiles for pre-order details (dates are subject to... Read more

Event

Announcing MINECON Live

May 2019 Xbox Update Brings Improvements for Friends List, Messaging and Sorting

by Jason Ronald, Director of Program Management, Xbox Platform Posted on May 16, 2019May 16, 2019

Team Xbox is hard at work preparing for E3 and beyond, but we have a few new features that are rolling out broadly beginning today! The May 2019 Xbox Update includes improvements to your friends list, messaging, and better sorting in My Games & Apps. Here’s a rundown of what’s new: Friends list now shows where your friends are playing We know that your friends play games across many different devices, including Xbox One, Windows 10, and mobile. To make it easier for you to know what, and where, your friends are playing we are making an update to your friends list! With this feature, we are adding unique Xbox One, PC, or mobile icons next to each of your friends in your... Read more

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Games

Beware the Rat Swarm – A Plague Tale: Innocence Available Now on Xbox One

by Aurélie Belzanne, Head of Marketing Communication, Asobo Studio Posted on May 15, 2019May 15, 2019

It’s time to steel yourself for a harrowing journey into the dark medieval past of France, where you will have to contend with the constant skittering of rat’s feet, hidden under the ground and in the walls, in A Plague Tale: Innocence on Xbox One, Asobo Studio’s debut new IP! In this heart-rending tale of two estranged siblings, you follow Amicia and Hugo’s personal journeys as they reconnect and struggle to survive in an indifferent world stricken by plague and war. Charged with protecting her little brother, Amicia is unable to turn a blind eye to the ugliness and violence thrust upon them, begging the question: Can anyone truly remain innocent? As thousands of rats... Read more

Undead Horde Rises on Xbox One

by Sampo Töyssy, Team Lead, 10tons Posted on May 15, 2019May 15, 2019

After over 1.5 years in development, Undead Horde is finally ready. The game is a necromancer simulator or a combination of ARPG and RTS with a lot of necromancy. The project started in late 2017. At that point we had done several top-down shooters in a row. Those included Neon Chrome, Jydge, Time Recoil, and Tesla vs Lovecraft. After working on top-down shooters since late 2014 we wanted to do something else. At that time games with interactive battling armies seemed to be quite popular. We started to research the topic and made a couple of prototypes with a fantasy battle simulator theme, but in the end, we couldn’t get those feel right for us. We put our thinking caps back on and... Read more: Undead Horde Rises on Xbox One

Games

F2P Action RPG Dauntless Coming to Xbox One May 21

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Stay on Target with These Sniper Elite V2 Remastered Tips and Tricks

by Sinan Kubba, Marketing Team, Rebellion Posted on May 14, 2019May 14, 2019

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is out today on Xbox One, and we’re delighted to be bringing a classic back on Xbox. Its combination of stealth gameplay, sniping simulation, and advanced bullet ballistics is still a joy seven years on from its release on Xbox 360. Now you can enjoy it on Xbox One with substantial graphical improvements, and numerous refinements and tweaks. We’ve also added a photo mode that lets you pause and advance the action frame-by-frame for that epic X-Ray Kill Cam shot, and all the playable characters from Zombie Army Trilogy. And we’ve expanded the multiplayer for up to 16 players to make it online play even more intense. If you really want to the visuals... Read more

Games

Red Dead Online: World Updates, New Missions, Poker, and The Road Ahead

by Rockstar Games Posted on May 14, 2019May 14, 2019

Today’s update to Red Dead Online on Xbox One brings a host of new gameplay including new cooperative story missions, Free Roam activities, and the addition of poker alongside a range of updates and improvements that strengthen and stabilize the foundational world of the Red Dead Online experience. This is just the beginning. The future of Red Dead Online not only includes continued improvements to the core elements of the world to make every aspect of the game fun for all kinds of players, but also brand-new experiences that establish a deeper, more immersive connection to the world and your character. See below for details on today’s update and what’s coming in the weeks and... Read more

Enter the Hot Pink Apocalypse of Rage 2 on Xbox One

by Mike Nelson, Xbox Wire Editor Posted on May 13, 2019May 13, 2019

Rage 2 is what you get when you bring together two gaming studio powerhouses, one gigantic asteroid to wipe out 80% of the planet’s population, and a lot of turning things up to 11 (and in some cases, 12). One of our most hotly anticipated titles is here and we hope you're ready to embark on the wildest adventure of the year with Rage 2 on Xbox One. It’s time to party hard. The culmination of taking as many crazy ideas as possible, and then throwing them into an open world first-person shooter blender, Rage 2 from id Software and Avalanche Studios brings us back to the wasteland established in the Xbox 360 classic, Rage (available now with Xbox Game Pass). With a massive... Read more

New Iron Throne Console Revealed for Xbox’s Game of Thrones Giveaway

by Aaron Greenberg, GM of Games Marketing Posted on May 12, 2019May 13, 2019

Last week, we announced a new Game of Thrones sweepstakes featuring custom House Targaryen and Night King designed consoles, and you didn’t think we’d just stop there, did you? We’re thrilled to unveil this giveaway will also include a third prize – an Iron Throne designed custom console! The fight to rule from the Iron Throne started nearly a decade ago and launched countless wars, battles and betrayals. It’s almost time to see who will reign victorious over the Seven Kingdoms, and it’s only right we made an epic custom console to honor this moment in television history. Just like the Iron Throne that sits in King’s Landing, the console features the swords of enemies that... Read more

Games

Recreating Monster Jam’s Beloved, Larger-Than-Life Trucks in Monster Jam Steel Titans

by Brad Bowling, Creative Director, Rainbow Studios Posted on May 10, 2019May 10, 2019

The team at Rainbow are no strangers to off-road motor sports and all the parts, gear, style, speed, adrenaline, dirt, and noise that come with it! That’s what makes off-road competition so fun and had us all revved up (pardon the pun) to take on the true monster of off-road motor sports competition: Monster Jam! (that concludes my puns for the day) We could not wait to sink our teeth into every aspect of the sport: the stadiums and arenas, the drivers, the races, the stunts, the massive air, and most importantly, the trucks. We were given the opportunity to tour the Feld facility in Palmetto, Florida, the epicenter of all things Monster Jam, to meet some of the men and women... Read more

This Week on Xbox: May 10, 2019

by Mike Nelson, Xbox Wire Editor Posted on May 10, 2019May 10, 2019

We know you’re busy and might miss out on all the exciting things we’re talking about on Xbox Wire every week. If you’ve got a few minutes, we can help remedy that. We’ve pared down the past week’s news into one easy-to-digest article for all things Xbox! Or, if you’d rather watch than read, you can feast your eyes on our weekly video show above. Be sure to come back every Friday to find out what’s happening This Week on Xbox! ID@Xbox Game Fest Brings A Month of Games for Everyone We’re excited to kick off the fourth annual ID@Xbox Game Fest this week, where we celebrate the diverse range of games and experiences offered by independent developers on Xbox One. From May... Read more: This Week on Xbox: May 10, 2019